Process of drying and bleaching.



J. D. TOMPKINS.

PROCESS OF DRYING AND BLEAGHING.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 20, 1910.

Patented Sept. 3, 1912.

Q 7 N, Y

51111) on You JOHN D. TOMgKINS, F VALATIE, NEW YORK.

PROCESS DRYING AND BLEACHING.

Specification of Letters ratent.

Patented Sept. 3, 1912.

Application filed December 20, 1919. ,Serial No. 598,312. 7

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, JOHN D. ToMrKINs, of Valatie, in the county of Columbia. and in the State of New York, have invented a I certain new and useful Improvement in Processes of Drying and Bleaching, and do hereby declare that the following is afull, clear, and exact description thereof.

My invention comprisesa process and an apparatus for drying and bleaching wet ma terials of all kinds, but more specifically wot paper, which have many advantages not possessed by systems which have been hitherto used for this purpose.

The object of my invention is especially to provide a process and an apparatus which will dry and bleach a traveling web of paper continuously by the aid of electricity.

My invention, furthermore. is such that the paper is effectively dried without the aid of a. high degree of heat. The paper dried in accordance with my invention is, therefore, dried well below the temperature at which fibers are injured or paper stock chars. As a result, the paper so dried is far stronger than paper which has been dried by systems hitherto used which have invariably involved the application of a high degree of heat.

'30 Furthermore, my invention is such that a Figure 1 represents a vertical section of my apparatus, and Fig. 2 is a detailed view of a portion of one end of the metal belts used in my apparatus.

, In the drawings, 1 is a housing closed at the bottom and having front and rear openings 2 and 3 to receive and discharge a traveling web of paper 4:. ,The top of the housing 1 is provided with a funnel 5 having a discharge pipe 6, leading to an exhaust apparatus of any desired kind. At the inlet opening, there is provided asmall vmeans of wire 21.

endless belt 7 supported upon rollers 8 for feeding the web of paper #1 into the apparatus \Vithin the housing 1 there are provided upper and lower foraminous metal belts, 9 and 10, which are driven, respectively, by power-driven rollers 11 and 12. Between the rollers 12 t-hereare provided an additional pair of rollers '13 for supporting the belt 10 between the rollers 12. 5 A pair of idlers 14 and 15 are provided'for supporting the metal belts between the driving rollers at the pointswhere the belts are not in contact with the traveling web of paper 4:. Asource of electric energy 16 is 7 connected at. its positive pole by means of a wire 17'to arheost-at 1S and a wire 19 to .a series of brushes 20 situated upon the under-face of the metal belt 10 at the ,ortion where it supports the traveling we of 5 5 paper 4. A wire21 connects the negative pole and the source of electric energy 16 with a similar series of brushes 22 located in a similar manner adjacent the surface of the upper belt 9 opposite the portion thereof 0 which supports the traveling web of paper l. At the discharge aperture 3 there is provided a guide or doctor 23 operating against the face of the belt 10 to prevent the web of paper from being carried by said belt 35 around the left-hand roller 12 and a roller 24 is provided at the end of the guide or doctor 23 to reduce the friction of the travcling web of paper while it is being delivered from the apparatus.

In the operation of said apparatus, the wet material, preferably a. web of wet paper 4; is fed into the opening 2 by means of the endless belt 7 so that it passes between the foraminous metal belts 9 and 10. An elec- '5 trio current, being generated by the source of electricity 16, the current which is regulated by the rheostat 18, is passed from the brushes 20 through the metal belts and the. interposed web of paper 4 to the brushes 22 10 and back to the source of electricity 16 by I The water which is present in the web of paper sis decomposed under the actionof the electric current, the

oxygen thereof going to the lower belt 10, 1 5

h which is the positive pole, and the hydrogen passing to the upper belt 9, which is the negative pole. The oxygen thus liberated passes in part, at least, through the body of the traveling web of paper and as a. consequence, the web of aper is effectively bleached as well as dried. The generation of nascent oxygen within the body of the web of paper also conduces to the bleaching of the traveling web of paper. The passage of the current of electricity through the materials being treatedniay be facilitated by using an electrolyte such as sea Water or other saline water for wetting them.

While I have described my process and one type of apparatus in which it may be carried out, in detail, I Wish it to be understood that many changes may be made therein without-departing from the general principles thereof or the spirit of my invention.

I claim:

1. The process of drying pa er, comprising passing an electric curren through a wet body of paper.

2. The process of drying paper, comprising passin an electric current through a wet web 0 paper.

The process of drying paper, comprise ing passing an electric current through a traveling Wet web of paper.

4. The process of drying paper, comprising passing an electric currentthrough a traveling wet web of paper containing an electrolyte.

5. The process of drying and bleaching, comprising passin an electric current through a body 0 wet material, thereby liberating a quantity of oxygen and bleachsaid material.

6.1 The process f drving and bleaching, comprising passing an electric current through a body of wet material thereby drying said material and liberating a quantity of oxygen and bleaching said material.

7. The process of drying and bleaching, comprising passing an electric current through a traveling body of Wet material, thereby liberating a quantity of oxygen to bleach said material continuously and drying said material.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing 45 I have hereunto set my hand.

7 JOHN D. TOMPKINS.

Witnesses MINERVA LOBEL,

MARIAN MEIKLE. 

